Patrick: Straus "out of touch with the voters" on bathroom bill

Sylvia Garcia, "because they can't use the bathroom of the gender they identify with?"

Republican Sen. David Givens said forcing charter schools to accept only high-risk students would be too restrictive.

"I've been subjected to many jokes, everybody snickering and talking about the bathroom bill".

Yum Center: The House and Senate could not reach a final agreement on a bill that would be state government's contribution to aid the financially struggling KFC Yum Center. They also say the enforcement measures in the bill are unnecessarily harsh. Lois Kolkhorst, why transgender women "as feminine as any woman on the Senate floor" should be required to use men's restrooms.

The Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau estimates if the bill becomes law, the city will lose around $109 million tourism dollars through 2021. It would not overrule local ordinances that impose stricter controls on using cell phones and smart phones while driving.

Chris Wallace, president of the Texas Association of Business said in a statement Tuesday that he was disappointed with the progress of SB6.

A House bill that would increase state funding to send poor kids to preschool was gutted in an Indiana Senate committee, setting up a potential clash between the two chambers.

Sen. John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat, called the bill unnecessary and pointed out it's already illegal to harass or assault someone in a bathroom or anywhere in the state. Sen.

"Our members believe everyone deserves to be treated fairly and equally, and we have heard what they know- equity and non-discrimination is a twenty-first-century economic imperative".

Despite the bill's comfortable margin when it passed, Craddick had to fight off repeated attempts to derail it.

In February, 142 prominent artists of various forms of expression signed onto a letter urging Texas legislators against making its forthcoming anti-transgender bathroom bill law.

House Bill 520 would let nonprofits or groups of parents and teachers set up a charter school.

Patrick released a statement Wednesday afternoon. The House approved a version of House Bill 330 that would simply extend the life of the tax increment financing district that generates revenue to pay the arena debt, but the Senate wants assurances in the bill of enhanced contributions for the arena from the University of Louisville and Metro Government. A rally from noon to 1 p.m. on the South Steps of the Capitol will feature Kolkhorst and Rafael Cruz, father of U.S. Sen.